Susan Eloise Hinton published The Outsiders during her freshman year at the University of Tulsa. Today, with more than eight million copies in print, the book is the best-selling young adult novel of all time, made into a film directed by Francis Ford Coppola and starring Emilio Estevez, Patrick Swayze, Matt Dillon, and Tom Cruise. She received the American Library Association and School Library Journal first annual Margaret A. Edwards Award, which honors authors whose "book or books, over a period of time, have been accepted by young people as an authentic voice that continues to illuminate their experiences and emotions, giving insight into their lives."

Jodi Picoult grew up in Nesconset, New York. She received her A.B. in Creative Writing from Princeton University, and her M.Ed. from Harvard University.